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November 11, 2004

Chancellor Named Honorary Consul

Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg will be the new British honorary consul in Pittsburgh, British Consul General Sir Philip Thomas has announced.

The appointment was made at a news conference Oct. 26 in Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy’s office, Downtown.

“We are honored that one of Pittsburgh’s most distinguished and respected civic leaders has agreed to serve as our representative,” Thomas said in a statement released by the British Consulate General.

As the British honorary consul, Nordenberg will help create opportunities for British companies who do business in Pittsburgh through the United Kingdom-Pittsburgh initiative.

“I felt privileged to be asked to serve in this role, and it seemed a natural fit for our University,” said Nordenberg. “Pitt has a vital stake in the future of this region and is actively involved in a wide range of economic development initiatives. We also are a world leader in terms of our international outreach.

“Among other things,” Nordenberg continued, “our University Center for International Studies is the home to both a West European Studies Center that has been designated a national resource center by the U.S. Department of Education and a European Union Center that is supported by the European Parliament. And, in these and other academic initiatives, we always have had a special interest in Great Britain.”

The United Kingdom-Pittsburgh initiative includes a two-way business relationship between Pittsburgh, South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and South Sheffield that benefits communities in both Pittsburgh and the United Kingdom.

In partnership with the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, the Allegheny Conference and the Pittsburgh branch of the British-American Business Council, the initiative recently has seen U.K. high-tech companies Merlin 360, Group 300 and Lamination Technology establish a presence, cementing the U.K.’s position as one of the leading foreign investors in the Pittsburgh region.

The initiative also is behind the British Pediatrics Fellowships, a medical exchange program linking the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and leading U.K. children’s hospitals in collaborative head trauma research. In addition, the initiative includes close collaboration between the British Consulate General in New York and a number of institutes at Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University.

The chancellor’s appointment builds on a well-established relationship between the University and Britain. Last year, in recognition of the University’s unparalleled record of achievement in the Marshall Scholarship competition and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Scholarship Program, His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, designated the University as a Marshall Center of Excellence.

Filed under: Feature,Volume 37 Issue 6

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